


I Will Follow You Into The Dark

by stileskolpath



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski Feels, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Stiles Feels, Temporary Character Death, True Alpha Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 02:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stileskolpath/pseuds/stileskolpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It began at the end. The end of the battle, that is.</p>
<p>Derek had felt it as Stiles’ soul had left his body. </p>
<p>He had felt part of his own heart get yanked out of his chest in the process."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Follow You Into The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Mk, so you might be wondering what the hell is happening in this one. It gets fluffy, I swear. You just have to keep reading. Second part coming soon. I swear. I will reblog all of it as one story on tumblr (and here) when I am done.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> -SK

It began at the end. The end of the battle, that is.  
Derek had felt it as Stiles’ soul had left his body. He had felt part of his own heart get yanked out of his chest in the process. It was a strange sensation. Derek didn’t feel him slip away, but one moment he was there, and the next he wasn’t. Behind him, someone screamed. It was Lydia, or Allison, he couldn’t be sure. His head was too busy cancelling out the surrounding world as his own heart twisted violently in his chest.  
“No, Stiles. Stiles. Stiles. Stay with me Stiles. Stay...” But it had been too late. The human’s form, where the eyes had once been full of light, went limp as Stiles left his broken body behind. Derek clutched his body to his chest and sank back onto his knees. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t. He willed the human’s heart to start beating again. He willed him to spring back to life. To choke, cough, and gag, and look around.  
He felt the searing heat of his tears as they pooled beneath his eyes. The pain worked its way upward through his body, and he lifted his head back, still cradling Stiles’ body, and howled.  
He howled for all that he had. He howled for all that he lost. He howled for his mate. He howled for his pack, for himself, he howled for vengeance.  
That was when the pack joined him in his howl. The sound reverberated through the hills, carried off by echoes and the wind. When Derek finally ran out of air in his lungs, his throat raw from the vibrations of the sound, he stopped, and looked at Stiles. He was slumped against Derek’s chest. He could just have easily been sleeping. The very sight of it made Derek sob. He didn’t even try to hide it. Instead he held Stiles’ body close as he laid him back against the ground. His tears fell to the human’s skin, where they landed, pooled, and were absorbed.  
Derek shuddered as his body was wracked by the force of his crying. He didn’t care if his pack was watching. He didn’t care if Deucalion was in the middle of them, on his knees, blind eyes not seeing what was going on, but ears trained on what was happening.  
“If you had still been an alpha, you could have saved him.” The older alpha said, adding salt to the wound.  
Isaac tightened his grip on his neck, digging claws in. “Shut up.”  
Deucalion obliged. Mostly because the twins also had a death-grip on the back of his neck. One unpermitted word, and they would rip his spine from his body like one might debone a fish.  
The worst part was, he was right. Derek had given up his power to save his sister. What little he had was transferred into her. But it wasn’t enough. For a second, her eyes had flashed red, and Derek had thought that it worked. He allowed himself a half-second of joy. But as quickly as it had come, and Cora had looked around, life renewed in her eyes, it slipped away. The light faded. And with it, his sister went as well. Just another soul that left the world from the sure embrace of Derek’s arms.  
And now, Stiles was gone too.  
“You can follow him, you know.” Deucalion said, as Isaac dug his claws into the side of his windpipe, drawing the smallest droplets of hot blood from the wound. The twins growled.  
Derek knew he could. But it might kill him. He didn’t hesitate. He slid a clawed hand behind Stiles’ neck, and dug them in, feeling them connect with the dying synaptic connections of the human’s brain stem. Derek could feel his fingers begin to tingle, and it spread up his limbs, towards his heart. Once it did, he felt everything grow cold. He closed his eyes, and prepared for what came next.  
Then he died. He didn’t even feel it as his body slumped forward onto Stiles’, claws still embedded in the human’s neck. He crossed into the void. Or, rather, what should have been a void.  
He found himself alone. Around him, nothingness was cloaked in a white fog. He watched as it slowly pulled back, revealing the corners of a white room. Derek only had to blink once to actually realize that he was alone. Or, well, mostly. The room kept expanding, and Derek could make out a row of benches, and two tracks. It was a train station.  
He found Stiles sitting on one of the benches, staring at his hands, next to him a solitary bag sat, packed with something. He didn’t seem to see Derek walk up and sit down next to him.  
It wasn’t until Derek reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder that Stiles reacted.  
“Derek... What are you? Why are you here?” His beautiful amber-brown eyes grew wide. Derek’s heart thumped as they took him in. “Did you? Did you die too?” Stiles seemed to be afraid of Derek’s answer.  
“No. Not really, anyway. I came for you. I came to bring you back.”  
“But Der, I can’t.” The pain on his perfect face was too much for Derek. “I never meant to. I should have, I should have told you before I left.” Stiles took in a ragged breath. It caught in his throat. “I wanted to say so many things, I wanted to tell you-”  
Derek cut him off. “I know. That is why I’m here. I know.”  
“You know what?”  
“That you are my mate. That you love me. That I can’t live without you.”  
Stiles smiled sadly at Derek, and reached a hand up to stroke his stubbled face. “I’m stuck here, Der. Until my train comes in.”  
“Then I will wait with you.” He reached up and slid Stiles’ hand off of his face, wrapping their fingers together. “And I’ll go with you when it gets here.”  
Stiles’ perfect amber-brown eyes began to get glassy with tears, and he stared into Derek’s seafoam-and-gold-flecked ones, the corners of his mouth quivering sadly at the werewolf’s plan.  
“I couldn’t ask you to do that. The pack needs you. Scott will need you. You can’t leave them.”  
“They mean nothing without you there. Besides, I’m not their alpha anymore.” He let his eyes flash blue. He watched as Stiles’ face shifted to an expression of surprise.  
“What happened?” He choked out.  
“Cora. I tried- I tried to give it back. To save her. It didn’t work.” He closed his eyes, fresh tears coming to his ice-blue eyes at the memory. They slid down his face and dropped onto their hands.  
He opened his eyes and tried to inhale, making a strangled, nasal noise. Stiles leaned into him, and put his free hand to Derek’s face once more, directing it to look at him.  
“She’s happier now. I guarantee it.” Derek opened his eyes, and looked at the human. Stiles’ eyes flicked back and forth between Derek’s, reflecting the ice-blue glow they gave off.  
“They’re beautiful you know...” And derek couldn’t help but smile weakly.  
“Thanks.” Stiles reached forward with his lips and grasped Derek’s. It was gentle, and Derek closed his eyes, and let himself be drawn into Stiles. Neither noticed as the white fog sank in around them, but Derek felt it when Stiles left him again, the contact leaving warm ghosts on Derek’s mouth.  
And he was back. He looked down, and Stiles was still in front of him, Derek’s tears still pooling and rolling off of his face. He pulled his claws out, gingerly. Then Derek heard it.  
A solitary heartbeat. Just one. Very weak. Too weak to mean anything, really. But then it was followed by a second one. And a third, and Derek frantically moved his palm down underneath Stiles’ shirt, and grasped at the front of his chest. He felt it as he heard it. Stiles’ heart was beating again.  
Derek’s breathing quickened along with his heart as Stiles’ eyes flicked open.  
“Derek?” He croaked. “Are we back?”  
Derek couldn’t help but smile as more tears welled up in his eyes. “Yeah, we’re back.”  
“You s- saved me?” Stiles’ voice was still weak, but his eyes were back to having light again, and they were looking at Derek’s, boring him straight down to his soul. He reached up and touched the side of the werewolf’s face. The motion drew gasps from Allison and Scott in the background. Derek felt the warmth behind the contact, and he allowed himself to savor it, if only for a second. He closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, Stiles’ perfect eyes got wide.  
“Derek, y-your eyes...”  
“What about them?”  
“They’re not blue anymore.” Derek didn’t feel when it happened. All he felt was Stiles, coursing through his veins.  
Stiles. Stiles had caused it. He had saved him, and by his sheer force of will, he had brought the human back from the brink. “What color are they?”  
“Red.” Derek kissed Stiles in response. Hard. The fire that wasn’t there before flickered to life with a spark. It soon roared around Derek’s heart, threatening to devour him whole.  
“Don’t go anywhere, okay? I need to take care of something.” Stiles nodded, and Derek pushed himself up, walking towards Isaac and Deucalion.  
He let his eyes stay shifted, and let the blind alpha feel his presence in front of him. If he did, he gave no sign.  
“Are you planning on lurking over me, or are you actually going to finish something for once?” The older alpha jeered, it was a bluff of sorts. He seemed to think that Derek couldn’t do just that.  
“I’m going to kill you.” Derek looked at Isaac briefly, it was enough for him to release his hold on Deucalion’s neck. The twins growled and did the same.  
Derek reached down and wrapped a clawed hand around Deucalion’s neck, lifting him off the ground, muscles tightening under the weight.  
“Silly boy...” Deucalion choked, trying to laugh, “only an alpha can kill me.”  
“I am an alpha.” Derek growled through clenched teeth. He saw the blind wolf’s eyes go wide, obviously feeling or hearing the power that the words carried. What little color he had left draining quickly from his face. “No...” It was all he managed to get out before Derek squeezed, and sharply twisted his hand. He felt the satisfying crunch of bone as he released his grip. The body hit the ground with a mundane thud. Derek shook out his hand, like it was coated with something foul. He turned back around to watch as Stiles was wobbly standing to his feet, Scott there to support him. Derek quickly joined him, and Stiles waved them both off, letting the strength come back into his limbs himself. Once he stood, he leaned on Derek for support. Instinctively, Derek wrapped a solid arm around the human’s waist. Together, they stepped over the body of Deucalion, of Jennifer Blake, and of the alpha Kali. Derek helped him into the jeep, and went to get into the other side. He threw his own keys to Scott, and told Isaac he would meet him at the loft.  
The jeep lurched forward when he put it into gear, and Stiles wrapped an arm around his and leaned his head against the werewolf’s shoulder absentmindedly. Derek sighed. Because he was happy. Well, almost. Then Stiles spoke.  
“So, what with my near-death experience, and you becoming a true alpha by saving me, and all, what do you say about taking this ‘mate’ thing literally?”  
Derek looked down in time to see Stiles waggle his eyebrows in what he assumed was a seductive manner, at least to the human himself. He suppressed a chuckle.  
“You need to rest. You literally just died.”  
“You didn’t say no.” Stiles’ tone was expectant as Derek drove.  
“You’re right.” Derek smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> \--To Be Continued--


End file.
